MTS Associated Markets has launched a primary auction facility for Danish Treasury Bills on MTS Denmark, in order to enable Danmarks Nationalbank’s Government Debt Management department, to conduct its Danish T-bill auction electronically.
This development represents an expansion of MTS Group’s activities in the primary market, where a number of issuers have conducted primary auction operations on selected MTS markets via the tap/buy-back functionality. The new MTS primary auction market is expected to be rolled out to other government issuers in due course.
To coincide with the launch, Danish T-Bills will also be available on the system for secondary trading, thus extending the liquidity and transparency already inherent in Danish government bonds to short-term Danish instruments. Initially, the following four Treasury Bill issues will be eligible for trading on MTS Denmark: DKT 01/11/05, DKT 01/02/06, DKT 01/05/06 and DKT 01/08/06.
“We are delighted by news of the introduction of the primary auction facility on MTS Denmark because this will enable us and the 12 T-bills Primary Dealers, to conduct our Treasury Bill auctions in a more efficient and transparent manner,” says Ove Sten Jensen, Head of Government debt Management at Danmarks Nationalbank. “Primary Dealers will also benefit through the reduced scope for errors and with significantly faster auction results. In addition, the listing of T-Bills on the secondary market will complement the new primary auction facility and should attract the levels of liquidity that have enhanced Danish government bond trading.”
The MTS Primary Auction is the first system to run on the new technology called TradeImpact. The other existing markets operated by MTS will migrate to the new technology during the course of the coming months.
Volumes on MTS Denmark have grown since the November 2003 launch, with average daily volumes currently running at EUR 350 million (DKK 2.725 million).
MTS Denmark was set up for the trading of Danish sovereign securities. MTS Associated Markets SA/NV, operates under the supervision of the Banking and Finance Commission and of the Securities Regulation Fund.
MTS Associated Markets forms part of the group of MTS companies, which includes EuroMTS, EuroCredit MTS, NewEuroMTS, EuroGlobalMTS, MTS Quasi-Government Market, Eurobenchmark Treasury Bills Market, EuroMTS Linkers Market, MTS Cedulas Market, MTS Amsterdam, MTS Austrian Market, MTS Belgium, MTS Denmark, MTS Deutschland, MTS Espaa, MTS Finland, MTS France, MTS Greek Market, MTS Ireland, MTS Italy, MTS Poland and MTS Portugal.
The group also includes BondVision, an Internet-based dealer-to-client platform and MTSNext, a company that manages the EuroMTS Indices of eurozone fixed income indices.